Ever since I was a teenager, I dreamed of my boyfriends before I met them in real life. The first time it happened, I was fifteen years old. I dreamed that I was holding hands with a charming boy with brown eyes and beautiful teeth, and I had a feeling of lightness, peace and joy in my dream. One week later, as I was walking in a park downtown Montreal, I locked eyes with the same eyes I had seen in my dream and it was love at first sight for both of us. This happened every single time I had a new boyfriend in my life: I would dream of him several days before meeting him in the real world, and I was never surprised when we would run into each other. The cliché phrase, “I’ve seen you in my dreams” was fact, not fiction for me! Not wanting to scare anyone away with my sixth sense, I was careful who I shared my dreams with.
Such dreams are known as premonitory dreams. They foretell an event before it happens. Many important ancient civilizations relied on dreams for guidance in political matters or social matters. Egyptians believed that their gods visited them in their dreams and transmitted important messages in this fashion. Greeks used dreams as ways to obtain messages but also to obtain healing remedies for various illnesses. They would perform very elaborate rituals before dreaming, such as abstaining from eating meat or sex, to make sure they were clean vessels for dreaming. In the New Testament, we often read about God speaking to disciples in dreams and guiding them towards important missions to accomplish. For the Hebrews, there were good dreams sent from God and bad dreams sent from evil spirits.
One of my spiritual teachers spoke a lot about premonitory dreams. She was a firm believer that dreams were important divine messages, coming in through the help of our spirit guides. She taught us that if we dreamed of the same thing three nights in a row, it was definitely an important premonitory dream. Over the years, I had plenty of time to test out her theories and found that they worked for me too. Here are some things you can do to discover if you are receiving divine messages through your dreams.
Keep Track of Your Dreams
Before deciding if a dream is a premonitory one, you must write down all your dreams in a dream journal. That is the only way you will be able to discover if you had a premonitory dream or if it was just a fantasy-driven dream. I always keep a dream journal next to my bed so that when I wake up in the morning, I can quickly write down what I remember. You will notice how rapidly a dream vanishes as we begin our morning routines, so don’t waste too much time. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up.
Pay Close Attention to Details
Write down as many details as you possibly can. What were you feeling in the dream? Where were you? With whom? What conversations did you have or hear? Colors, emotions, places and conversations will guide you on your path towards establishing whether a dream is a premonition or not. Typically, premonitory dreams have very clear and precise details that regular dreams lack. For me, regular dreams are often foggy but premonitory dreams are much more clear and intense.
Wait and See
Continue your life without being too preoccupied about trying to link your dreams to your reality world. Suddenly, one day, something will happen that your dreams will have predicted accurately. At that moment, take your dream journal out and establish the time delay between the night you had your dream and the day your event happened. People can have premonitory dreams years in advance or days in advance, and it’s possible to find a pattern in this time delay. I discovered that I dream of upcoming events days before they occur, not weeks or months. With this in mind, I am able to be better prepared.
What is the Point?
The point of trying to figure out if you have premonitory dreams or not is to see if God or Creator or whatever you believe in has given you a special gift in this life. If you have this gift of being guided in dreams, then by all means you need to discover it and play with it and learn from it! Whatever spiritual help we can get to better navigate this world, we should use it to enjoy life more and avoid hardships and obstacles ahead.
(As published in InnerSelf Magazine in May 2017)